Golden Gate Railroad Museum
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 942844499
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Redwood City, CA, USA
- Phone
- 6503690133
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Museum, Museum Activities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $545,174
- Expenses
- $246,546
- Assets
- $4,279,830
- Liabilities
- $98,849
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JASON DAVIS (President)
- SCOTT BOWDISH (VICE PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- JAMES SWEENEY (DIRECTOR)
- JIM BUNGER (Director)
- JASON DAVIS (President)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The golden gate rail road museum preserves, restores, displays, and operate our railroad equipment.
What it reported doing in 2025
The golden gate rail road museum preserves, restores, displays, and operate our railroad equipment for the benefit of the public
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 81% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 58
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 87
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 45.5%; rating input score 45
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 54.8%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 17.36; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -12.7% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 45.5% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $247K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 45/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is not authorized to operate as a charity in California.